A Kingdom Besieged

The Chaoswar Saga #1

by Raymond E. Feist

Discover the fate of the original black Magician, Pug, and his motley crew of agents who safeguard the world of Trigia, as prophecy becomes truth in the first book of the last ever Midkemian trilogy.

THE KINGDOM BESIEGED The Darkness is coming… The Kingdom is plagued by rumour and instability. Kingdom spies in Kesh have been disappearing - either murdered, or turned to the enemy side. Information has become scant and unreliable; but one thing appears clear. Dark forces are on the move… Since Pug and the Conclave of Shadows enforced peace after the last Keshian invasion, the Empire has offered no threat. But now factions are rising and Jim Dasher reports mobilizations of large forces in the Keshian Confederacy. As the men of the West answer the King's call to muster, Martin conDoin - left as caretaker of Crydee Keep - will suddenly be confronted with the vanguard of an invading army. He reminds himself that he is a year older than his legendary ancestor, Prince Arutha, was when he stood firm against the Tsurani invasion, but Arutha had an army to command, and Martin is left with old men and young boys. Massive events are about to unfold, events which threaten the future of all human life in Midkemia…

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Audiobook, Ebooks, Adventure

408 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Raymond E. Feist was born Raymond E. Gonzales III, but took his adoptive step-father's surname when his mother remarried Felix E. Feist. He graduated with a B.A. in Communication Arts with Honors in 1977 from the University of California at San Diego. During that year Feist had some ideas for a novel about a boy who would be a magician. He wrote the novel two years later, and it was published in 1982 by Doubleday. Feist currently lives in San Diego with his children, where he collects fine wine, DVDs, and books on a variety of topics of personal interest: wine, biographies, history, and, especially, the history of American Professional Football.

Reviews

[Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end of the Riftwar world is nigh, and I feel an odd mix of relief and elation. I think the series may be ending with a lot of repeating elements, having been dragged on a little too long… but at the same time, it has been nice to come “home” to the author that sparked my love of fantasy.

I already like the Chaoswar Saga better than the Demonwar Saga. It took a while for things to get going and for all the “players” to be reintroduced, but once it did, it had my interest. Feist included an interesting POV from a creature in one of the demon realms, adding a nice bit of perspective to the overall story, which I’m excited to see develop. Overall, A Kingdom Besieged was enjoyable, containing enough nostalgic elements to keep me interested, but not enough to knock my socks off.

I do have a few critical thoughts about these later works, especially concerning character development. Some of the text practically screams with Feist’s desperate desire to stay relevant and a live up to all the great characters he’s written in previous books. Unfortunately, I think he’s going about it the wrong way – instead of taking the time to develop strong new characters, he shamelessly name-drops. He’s trying to build them up by emphasizing how similar they are to their predecessors, but only succeeds in paling them by comparison, at least in my mind. Here’s a badly paraphrased example:

“Oh, you’re a son of the Duke of Crydee? And an archer to boot!! Look how amazing you are! Why, I’d say you have all the skill and bearings that your great Grandsire, Martin, had. Do you remember how amazing he was?? Splitting-image, I tell you!”

And he doesn’t do this just once, but with every new prominent character we meet. It doesn’t help matters that many of these characters are actually descendant from original characters. I admit I’m at the point where I no longer remember (or care) which generation we’re on.

So, despite a decided quality drop in these later books, I still think (at this point) the series is worth finishing, but the final verdict will be told with the last two Chaoswar books. If you haven’t started this series yet, here’s my recommended reading order:

Riftwar 1 & 2 [2] Loved #1! The first 100 pages of #2 is a struggle – keep going!
Empire [3] Loved!
Riftwar 3 & 4 [2] Loved!
Krondor’s Sons [2] Loved!
Serpentwar Saga [4] Loved!
Riftwar Legacy[3]Didn’t like…
Conclave of Shadows [3] Loved!
Darkwar Saga [3] Liked.
Demonwar Saga [2] Hated!
Chaoswar Saga [3] The jury is still out…

The Riftwar Legacy is a side trilogy apparently based off of a video game. It lacked the sophistication of the other series and had no particular relevance to future books (that I can remember, anyway). I’d skip those. If the Chaoswar ends well, it MIGHT be worth suffering through Demonwar… I’ll let you know lol. ;)

Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.NikiHawkes.com

Other books you might like:
Theft of Swords - Michael J. Sullivan
Furies of Calderon - Jim Butcher
Sorcery Rising - Jude Fisher
Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb
The Thief's Gamble - Juliet E. McKenna

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first of the last trilogy. Wow. And SO many years after the first Magician book came out.

It feels like we're coming to a full close but doing it in GRAND style. We spend a lot of time in the fifth circle of the demon realm, following some wickedness around and just waiting to see her transformation into the Big Bad we'll have to face in a totally unprepared Midkemia.

Well, not TOTALLY unprepared, but Pug is only one man and his Isle of Wizards is only SO powerful. These demons are going to TEAR through the world. We're already seeing signs of it. Hints. And then, Kesh is going ahead after so many years of relative peace and hammering the kingdom. Hard.

Good new characters even if they're old echoes of their grandsires or great-grandsires. Echoes of Jimmy and Martin. Sigh.

The great parts of this book are the same great parts that we've loved in the prior books. Sieges, the warfare of all kinds, the scraping-by with bare survival, retreats. The sense of doom is pervasive and this is just the usual kind of warfare doom.

But what's driving the Kesh north? :)

And also... the twist at the end? The new, perhaps last BIG reveal?

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA okay. I love it.

[YouKneeK · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in the very last subseries of Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar Cycle. I went into this with low expectations because the last two subseries starters were full of recaps that kept putting me to sleep. Happily, I didn’t have that problem with this book at all. There was some recap info, and some of it was provided more than once, but it came in both briefer and less frequent doses and so it never got tedious.

I enjoyed this. It’s full of a lot of the things Feist does best – camaraderie, adversaries banding together to fight a common enemy, a young man unexpectedly thrown into a leadership position and taking charge against overwhelming odds, etc. There admittedly isn’t anything particularly new here, but it was kind of a comfort read with so many of the things I enjoyed most about the early books appearing in slightly different forms here as the series approaches the end. I expected this last subseries to be depressing given some of the often-repeated predictions and the title of the last book, and it will probably get there eventually, but this book was fun.

Feist does like to recycle his character types by introducing descendants of old favorite characters from the early books who have some remarkably similar personality traits and skills. I do usually like them, although they never quite recapture the magic of the originals for me because they aren’t the originals. And then there are the characters who keep showing back up in new and strange ways… I hope Feist can make it make sense that Nakor and Miranda’s “memories” appear to be living in demons. I guess it will turn out to be something the gods did again. I wasn’t particularly thrilled to see Miranda again, but I did love seeing Nakor show back up.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I’m rating it at 4.5 stars which is probably a little generous since I don’t think this story is going to stick with me for the long haul, but mostly it’s just based on the enjoyment I got from reading it. I’m rounding down to 4 on Goodreads.

[Nikola Pavlovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kao i do sada, na pocetku skoro svakog novog serijala, Fajst uvodi nove mlade likove, cesto potomke starih. To je slucaj i sa ovom knjigom. I dok se upozajemo sa njima Ostrvsko Kraljavstvo se prirpema za invaziju velikog Kesa. Medjutim razmere ove invazije nisu mogli da predvide ni najspretniji spijuni niti sami pripadnici Konklave Senki. Nesto se cudno desava u pozadini svega toga....

[Veronica Morfi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The darkness is coming…

If you are a fan of epic fantasy novels, knights, battles, kings, queens, magicians, elves and everything related to them this is a fantasy world you’ll love.

The story of Midkemia started 26 books ago and still worth waiting every single book. In this 27th book the Kingdom is threatened by the empire of Great Kesh. Spies from both the Kingdom and Roldem are disappearing or turned to the enemy side. And when Jim Dasher, an agent from both the Conclave of Shadows and the Kingdom tries to find out what is going on he discovers an old enemy is still alive. The Padathians, yet again, are playing a mysterious role in the new war that is threatening the Kingdom.

While we learn about the Keshians moving against the Kingdom we meet new members of the con Doin family. Martin is the middle son of the duke of Crydee and as the men of the west answer the King’s call to muster, he is left to guard Crydee Keep . Everything seems quiet until an invading army shows up at their doorstep and all hell breaks loose.

Another brilliant thing about this book is that for the first time we get to see the demon realm. We realize that demons are not as different from humans as we originally thought and we follow a pack of them who is trying to escape the Void that is starting to cover the realm destroying everything that it touches.

Filled with heroic battles, magical sceneries, romance and chivalry, this book is the first one from the Chaoswar Saga, the last known trilogy of Midkemia, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone that hadn’t read the previous books.

Feist is, without a doubt, a master of his kind and can keep even the most demanding readers hooked on every book.

[R Bartel · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Kingdom Besieged was my first introduction to Feist’s novels. The author makes a huge assumption – that I have read his previous books. This assumption is revealed in the fact that he spends almost no time introducing his characters. By the middle of the book I had to assume that if I didn’t know who someone was, they must have been brought forward from an earlier series. Since this book is touted as “book one” of a new series, I felt tremendously disappointed. I then researched Feist’s writing history and discovered, yes indeed, these were recurring characters from his previous books.

Now the question was whether or not I wished to read all twenty-seven books that preceded this one – even though this is touted as “number one in a new trilogy” – just to figure out who is supposed to be a good guy and who’s the bad guy. By the middle of the book I got tired of guessing, and besides, I was bored to tears by the unrelenting passive voice. Life is much too short to bother with such a book or with an author who has so little respect for new readers.

[This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Kingdom Besieged is the latest book in the long-running Riftwar Cycle by Raymond Feist and the first in what appears may be the final trilogy of the story. Depending a bit on how one chooses to count, this is the 19th book in the primary series (which is subdivided into a variety of sagas), with an additional 9 related books (6 co-authored) retroactively filling in story gaps with alternate tales and points of view. Broadly speaking the primary series has generally declined in quality through time, with the first books being the best and the later books the worst. Happily, A Kingdom Besieged goes a long way to reversing this trend, as it is easily better than all eight books making up the last three sagas, and at times almost recapturing the magic of the first few tales.

A Kingdom Besieged begins about five years after the end of the previous book, At the Gates of Darkness. It's a broad tale of war and intrigue, although not a dense or difficult read. The story moves at a rapid pace, with a few twists and turns but nothing particularly shocking or surprising (I very early on guessed what was probably meant to be the biggest shock/twist in the story...I don't know whether it was telegraphed or I just got lucky). As with many other books from the series, it contains a mix of new and established characters as the primary drama starts to shift to a new generation. Manyh of these characters harken back a bit to the characters from the earlier stories (sometimes blatantly and deliberately), which is perhaps why they resonate so well. The ending is solid, without a blatant cliffhanger, but still setting up numerous plot threads to be tackled in the next two books.

One of the biggest problems with the last few books in the series (and particularly the previous book) was the lack of what I would call craftsmanship. It was not so much that the story and plot and characters were particularly bad, but rather that the writing and editing fundamentals were sorely lacking. In particular, there were numerous redundancies and gross inconsistencies (such as having the same character in two different places simultaneously) that simply showed sloppy writing, editing, and an insufficient attention to detail that detracted from the story. Thankfully, such inconsistencies appear to be largely absent from this book, allowing the reader to stay more absorbed. One craftsmanship flaw still remains, however, which is a tendancy to redundancy. For example, in chapter 1, Feist writes

It was called the Magician's Tower, for once the Duke's ancestor, Lord Borric, had given it over to a magician and his apprentice.

In chapter 19 he writes

......to the roof of the tower known as the "Magician's Tower" because it was where Pug and his mentor, the magician Kulgan, had resided deacdes before.

The text in chapter 19 is completely extraneous; he already explained where the name of the tower comes from. It's almost as if these chapters were written completely independently with no thought or bearing to how they fit together into a single book (this was not the only case of such repetition).

Overall, I found this book to capture much of the excitement I remember when first reading the earliest stories 25 years ago and for the first time in quite awhile I am actively looking forward to the next book to learn what will happen next.

[Phillip · Rating 3 out of 5]

All-in-all, this was a completely serviceable entry in Feist's Riftwar Cycle - treading some familiar ground with new characters that are compared to previous protagonists (Arutha, Jimmy the Hand, etc.) and similar plot structures. Saying this is "more of the same" sounds like a backhanded complement, and maybe it is, because I liked this but I didn't love it. And I'm not thrilled to have that reaction to the first entry of the concluding trilogy for this very long series, but so it goes. I did like it more than the previous two books, so I'll mark that as a positive.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

To me this book felt like a well needed return to form for Feist. The Demonwar saga was a let down for me but this, the start of the end, really got things back on track.

The action was good and varied, Pug wasn't wallowing so much and started to seem like himself again, the story of Child was great and the pieces are all moving into place.

There were some negatives of course. The amount of characters is starting to get confusing, especially with Feist's love of naming them the same thing. I need a full family tree to wrap my head around it.

Tomas was missed. He is a good character and at least should have had an appearance.

I'm glad Feist is getting back on track and I'm looking forward to seeing how this epic series ends. With the twist at the end of this book I'd say it will be very interesting.

[Literary Han · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This ended with an absolute BANG

[Sotiris Karaiskos · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the last trilogy of the great circle, the author seems to want to make a summary. Using elements from all this great course, a completely characteristic story begins, with a lot of action as more and more threats are gathered. Of course, I did not expect any differentiation after so many books in the same pattern, whenever I can ignore this repetition and enjoy another interesting adventure without a problem. If I then find something reminiscent of the highlights of this series I will be even more satisfied.

Στην τελευταία τριλογία του μεγάλου κύκλου ο συγγραφέας φαίνεται ότι θέλει να κάνει μία ανακεφαλαίωση. Χρησιμοποιώντας στοιχεία από όλη αυτή τη μεγάλη πορεία ξεκινάει μία ιστορία απολύτως χαρακτηριστική, με πολύ δράση καθώς όλο και μεγαλύτερες απειλές συγκεντρώνονται. Φυσικά δεν περίμενα κάποια διαφοροποίηση μετά από τόσα βιβλία στο ίδιο μοτίβο, όποτε μπορώ να αγνοήσω αυτήν την επανάληψη και να ευχαριστηθώ μία ακόμα ενδιαφέρουσα περιπέτεια χωρίς πρόβλημα. Αν στη συνέχεια βρω κάτι που να θυμίζει τις κορυφαίες στιγμές αυτής της σειράς θα είμαι ακόμα περισσότερο ικανοποιημένος.

[Jamie Rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been a huge fan of Feist since I read the Magician as a child. Originally, it was the charisma of the characters and the sheer scope of the tales that brought me back to Feist over and again, but this was the first instalment I have read in a number of years and I now remember why. Each new instalment just feels like a rehashing of old characters. This novel is set in the distant future to the Magician and yet barely a page goes by where we don’t get a reference to one of the characters from the original trilogy. This story had some interesting moments and some great scenes but overall it fell far from the mark for me, relying too heavily on exposition and struggling to forge new ground

[Lily Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read a new Feist book since the Serpent War saga, and this was on sale at Amazon AUS recently and I snapped it up. I enjoyed the drips of Midkemia history through those original stories of Arutha/Martin/Lyam and Jimmy The Hand.
I enjoyed this story, with the only parts that lost me being Samareena's story/encounter with the NightCaps who turned out to be Nighthawks. Other than that, the pacing was fine. I'd seek out the other stories in the series but probably only if they come on sale.

[Elly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank goodness that’s over. The first two thirds were painful to read. If I hadn’t been so determined to FINALLY be done with this series (without the unanswered questions) this book definitely would have been DNF.

Honestly, the bulk of the book is very blah. The story has gotten so convoluted with explaining the past. So and sos great grandfather had so and so at his side when he had to fight the blah. James Jimmy Dasher Jim Jamison, great great great grandson of Jimmy the hand apparently inherited the OGs character in full, like a reincarnation (there is no way I’m like my great great great grandparents, so why should the present day Jimmy?) It’s awful. The multigenerational stagnation is rubbish. The only one whose grown is Pug, and he is without joy.

The whole being reminded of past characters and how they are related to the current ones is awful. We spend so long looking at the past it takes away from the present.

It’s a very hard going, and confusing, even for someone who has recently read all the previous books.

The last third things pick up considerably. Child was novel (and that’s the thing, the new characters come without baggage/history/children/parents, so we don’t spend anywhere near as long reciting their past/connections). The NH coming to parley was also interesting. The last few pages with the transformation was very exciting. It only took the ENTIRE book to get there. Not exactly worth it, but I’m hoping the next book will be less tedious. Very much looking forward to being done with the series!

[Sasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, I did it again. How does one continuously get into yearlong series without noticing? I'll tell you how: With the book saying it's a "no. 1 of the blablabla series" and having the gall to then on the inside show up FIRST rather than LAST with all the other books. I certainly wouldn't have picked this one up had I known there were whole sagas going on behind this. Maybe I should've noticed that "The Chaoswar Saga" as mentioned in the list of all the other sagas seemed to be a standalone yet had a number one in the title... So the book (not the author, though, I presume he had nothing to do with the design of aforementioned list in the front pages) already lost about half a star for me there. The other one and a half are from the rest of the book. And while I can appreciate that other readers have a wealth of information on characters that I do not, that doesn't mean I can't still be critical of the author's writing.

Alas, the book starts generic enough with a fantasy realm with humans, elves, demons and all sorts of creatures. It does feel very varied, if a bit overcrowded in that it seems like every supernatural creature you could fathom at some point or another has lived there. After getting acquainted with the map of Midkemia (I love it when the books have maps!), I must say it was very frustrating that the first chapter didn't feature at all in there. I was searching top to bottom to see if I've missed something until I later realized that the part about Child (the first main character introduced to us in this book) just doesn't take place in Midkemia for the most part - or at least not in that "plane", if you will. That said I loved the introduction with demons and an impending cataclysm of epic proportions. Fleeing from "The Darkness", demonkind is trying to outrun something they don't quite understand but know will kill them, should they linger for too long. Child is a newborn demon who, thanks to a loving mother manages to survive upon feasting on dead demons. She grows quickly but is not out of harm's way her mother sacrifices herself so that Child can sustain herself through feasting on her . We then make the acquaintance of numerous humans spread out through Midkemia (now at least the map does show where things are happening) with either connections to the throne or to Pug, a very strong sorcerer, who has dealt with demons in the past. Now especially concerning the family trees and Pug's past, it slowly dawned on me that I'm not reading the start of a series but the end. Generations upon generations of similar sounding people and their contributions to one war or another did not really endear me to the novel, as it was more tell than show and at parts rather boring. I assume that by reading about those people from their perspective in the previous books might have helped, but as such it was not information that I lacked but a connection. I felt rather detached from the explanations of character X's great-great-grandfather all the way through the present. I suppose it was as much to introduce new readers as as to remind old ones who did what in the previous books.
As Midkemia is divided in several kingdoms that are in the present of the book under unstable rule, it's no wonder that problems soon arise. A slow invasion from the south suddenly becomes very tangible when a huge force ships up to the West, where they are soon overwhelmed since they never expected to be targeted in the first place. Much of the strategy and motives behind Kesh (the invading party) is lost on me, though the reason why seems rather intriguing something to do with dragons and some lizard people they created. Incidentally one of those dragon beings seems to happen to be aforementioned "darkness" that is consuming everything it touches. So anyhow, those lizard people (engineered from snakes) are working with magic and influencing all sorts of people to panic and initiate the great invasion from Kesh to the North/West .
The elves are seemingly quarreling among themselves but will play a greater role as well, considering they have a variety of portals that connect to places that should better be left alone.
As the book closes the war is engaged in several places and includes pretty much everyone to some extent - which leaves a kingdom besieged, as the title suggests and a darkness rising that probably needs unlikely allies to defeat it.

Again, it's hard to understand something that has 20+ books under its belt and is now wrapping everything up. That said, the world build did seem interesting, if somewhat generic. I would've liked to see more elf story (I did not understand at all how they are divided and even less why) or just more mention of them in the book. I would also have liked to see a map of Child's original birthplace, though I guess that would've been a very simple map. That said, how the portals connected to each other was and remains a bit of a mystery to me. I would also have loved to see more of Kesh and their perspective, as it was mostly shown second hand through non-Keshian characters.
As for characters, some of them are exceedingly bland. Feist just switches PoVs in the middle of a paragraph (not even a chapter) and introduces small characters, just to have them killed off within two pages (in and of itself not a problem, but happening several times it did become a bit annoying, considering I already have to deal with at least 10 "main" characters). The humans are mostly uninteresting though I did quite like Martin and especially Jim, had he had more screen time. The suspicion hinted at in the blurb in the back of the book concerning Pug's son Magnus was maybe a bit too subtle for me to catch up on. Both seemed rather uninteresting other than seemingly have lived through a lot. Amirantha on the other hand I really liked and would've loved to see more interaction with him and the elves. One of the few parts in the book that actually had me gripped. Adding to that are Child and Belog, two demons whose dynamic I rather enjoyed. Despite some of the interaction being again very tell and little show, I loved their relationship. Who exactly they represent by the end of the book when they regain their memories is, again, beyond me, but I suppose readers of the franchise will have anticipated or liked who they became . In general there were just too many characters in the book spanning too many places (a family tree in the back would've helped loads) that I feel some important characters were unduly left out while others were a bit overpowering.

All in all it was a pleasant read but sometimes very exposition heavy and with a lot of information I could not really connect to something. The varying PoVs and some quick character introductions seemed a bit pointless as were some of the chapters in general where I'd loved to see flashbacks rather than some silly dinner scene. It's unlikely I'll ever read through the whole sagas that came before this one and less so that I'll continue this saga with the lacking information that I have. As it stands, I give it 3 stars as the writing wasn't really convincing to me but the plot as a whole seemed promising as did the world build.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm really angry that I wasted my time reading this. Fuck you, Feist. You suck.

[Miss Mobarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly interesting plot...I like the concept of the book but the plot is too slow I assume.

[Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first book by Feist and I'm... not impressed. I know that this is a book in a much bigger world with a lot of stuff that comes first, but this is also the first in a series, and I don't actually think my lack of context/familiarity had a real impact on my thoughts, apart from if I had read and loved his earlier work, I might have been a little more nostalgic and willing to overlook some flaws.
But honestly, I just didn't think this was great. The writing felt dry and the characters were bland and predictable. The most interesting character by far was Child, but even her journey seemed predictable. I never felt like we got to know any of the characters in depth, and there were so many POV characters and just names and places to remember. And while maybe I would have known some of this if I read the previous series', I don't think that was the issue, because Feist explained everything in great detail. Like, we were introduced to a character, and told who they were, and later they turn up again and we are introduced again, in narration, not even in dialogue to a stranger or someone who might not know.
Also, and this is very petty and not at all relevant really, except to show lack of care- my copy of the book had the first chapter of book 2 in the back. And there is a character's name who is spelled FOUR different ways, obviously by accident, as though Feist could not decide on the name, in a matter of like the four page preview. WTF???? I'm not sure if that's on Feist or his editors or both, but that was the biggest editing mistake I have ever seen in my life. I even Googled it to see if I was missing something, but found no mention of it, it seems like a character we only ever see there morgath, morgeth, mogoth and mogeth. also, it seems obvious that it was inspired by Tolkien's Morgoth and then needed to be changed and wasn't. Literally what the hell Honestly, my biggest grievance was that this was boring. I didn't care, I was never really pulled in, and I don't know if this is a departure from Feist's usual level/skill, of it he is simply not the author for me.

[Paddy Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

cant believe I accidently read this book, book 29 in the series, first by mistake years ago. Now I have caught up and read all the previous 28.

on revisiting, its clear that the later books in the series drop in quality quite significantly, and there are so many editing errors. although I do still like the riftwar cycle, I think the best was still the empire trilogy with janny wurts. That trilogy is just too good to be topped, and had my favorite female protaganist of all time, Mara of the Acoma. I dont think this these last three books will live up to the earlier riftwar books, but i have no regrets getting this series finished

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars. This is the first in a series so by itself it doesn't lend itself to satisfaction. Once I complete the series I may come back to this first book and change my rating. So far it has been diverting but not amazing. Will continue on in the series and reassess.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb read with the NLS audiobook to follow along with while you read. Exciting plot that piques and keeps the readers interest.

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 3 out of 5]

En set-up-bok, för vad som skulle kunna vara en intressant svit. Jag kan inte säga mer utan att ha läst resten.

[Vasya · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the Magician: Apprentice to this title that I'm sure Raymond E. Feist made an incredible journey for its readers, but sadly I have only read his Riftwar Saga and Krondor's Sons. I have to say that, after reading this, I am sure that I haven't made a bigger mistake in my reading experience.

I fell in love with Magician: Apprentice on first sight. Ever since that first sentence, ever since that first scene with Pug, I was gripped with the whole world of Midkemia and Televan Feist created. But I had a slight problem that I didn't know how to deal with - coming to the third (or fourth, depends on how it's published) book in that first series, I started disliking his work because it tended to go toward sci-fi fiction of which I am not an admirer. And while that problem was not repeated in the two books in the Krondor's Sons (at least if you try really really hard to imagine that it was all because of magic) the characters of Boris, Pug, Tomas, Arutha and Jimmy could not be so easily duplicated, and I didn't feel as good as when I read Magician.

So I gave up. Not on Feist entirely, but I just kept postponing reading his other works until eventually something totally took my attention away from them, and having this book in my hands (not literally, but you know what I mean) made me realize just how much I missed out.

True, most of those characters I admired so much in the Riftwar Saga are dead, because this happens a few generations after those first steps were made. Pug is there, but he is not a little boy anymore in search of adventure and approval, he is a magician so burdened by his knowledge that I sometimes perceive him as an old man, way beyond Kulgan's age. But my problem with this book was that it relies too much on the information of the previous books.

I am short of knowledge. I figured out why the ending was so dramatic, I remembered what it means, because I've already read something of the history of Midkemia, but there were so many places and so many characters mentioned that I knew nothing about, the I was left very confused. Even though I could make some connections, this is not a recommended first read if you are not familiar with Feist's entire Riftwar Cycle (which means that I'm about nineteen books in the minus). It is first in the smaller series of Midkemia, but I dislike that it couldn't be a stand-alone novel, because to figure out everything (and believe me, Feist did an excellent work by having a hidden meaning behind every word spoken and every action taken) you need to read everything that happened before. I like works that are set in my favorite worlds, but not at the point that they're so interconnected that I can't understand a book before its predecessors.

Aside from it, the storytelling was amazing. I was always left a little awed by the formerly planned details of the plot, by stepping so lightly into the character's skin while he/she's the focus of the attention, and I was not disappointed here. Martin, Hal, Jim, the elves, the Black Caps, Child, the whole political scene which is present but doesn't smuggle the whole adventure of it all, nothing disappointed me.

I loved the way how it all came to be, how the plots for the invasion become unveiled, how the whole adventure began. And even though so much of the whole story is revealed, I know that there is something greater that is going to be revealed in the next book. And then again something greater in the one after that one. It's the way Feist works, and the complexity of everything makes me want to read it over and over again.

The characters are not overbearing. There is a perfect symmetry between the complexity of the story and that of the characters, because they unveil themselves slowly with every page turned. Nothing is crowded as sometimes may be the case in this type of fantasy, and Feist did an excellent job in balancing all the main parts of the story.

And what more do I need to say, except that I am anxiously awaiting the next book, and furiously searching for my library or credit card, to get on with the books that this one reminded me of? I recommend it to all epic fantasy lovers, because it definitely won't disappoint.

This review was based on a digital ARC received via NetGalley.

[FantasyWereld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ongeveer dertig jaar nadat Raymond E. Feist zijn reeks boeken over Midkemia begon met Magiër, komt het einde nu in zicht met de Saga van de Chaosoorlog-trilogie. Het eerste deel hiervan, Het Bedreigde Koninkrijk, speelt zich vijf jaar na Voor de Poorten van het Duister af. Hierin verloor Puc zijn vrouw en zoon en het verdriet is nog steeds niet verwerkt. Toch kan hij zich niet al te lang afzijdig houden van wat er zich nu afspeelt op Midkemia. Het Keizerrijk Kesh blijkt namelijk een grootschalige invasie voor te bereiden en een nieuwe oorlog kan het Koninkrijk der Eilanden zich niet veroorloven. Alle informanten in Kesh zwijgen echter in alle toonaarden, dus Jim Dasher en Sandrina gaan zelf op onderzoek uit om te achterhalen wat Kesh van plan is.

Maar ook in het demonenrijk is er nog steeds geen rust. Na het verslaan van de demonenkoning Dahun is het gevaar vanuit deze wereld nog niet geweken. En naarmate we steeds meer te weten komen over de demonen lijken zij nog niet eens het grootste gevaar te zijn dat Midkemia te vrezen heeft…

Herkenbaarheid
De stijl die Feist in het boek hanteert is, voor mensen die al eerder zijn boeken hebben gelezen, herkenbaar. Actie, politieke intriges en verrassende onthullingen, ze zijn allemaal aanwezig. De vaart ligt redelijk hoog, maar wordt soms onderbroken door personages die achtergrondinformatie spuien. Het verhaal leest desondanks prettig weg en is zeker vermakelijk genoeg om de lezer tevreden te houden.

Herkenbaar zijn ook de personages die Feist in dit boek introduceert. Wederom is er een ConDoin afstammeling die op de muren van Schreiborg staat om een belegering te doorstaan. Ik denk dat hier ook de crux ligt waarom Feist met zijn laatste verhalen maar niet lijkt te kunnen tippen aan eerdere boeken, zoals die van De Slangenoorlog. Zijn meest gewaardeerde boeken hadden allen personages die zoveel meer te bieden hadden dan de personages die we nu leren kennen. In plaats daarvan werden archetypes van stal gehaald, die allen ontwikkeling missen. Jim Dasher is een nieuwe Robbie de Hand, in Martin en Hal zien we Martin Langboog en Arutha terug. De personages die in de laatste paar boeken zijn geïntroduceerd, zoals Sandrina of Haviks, missen de aantrekkingskracht om echt ondersteunend te zijn.

Wil je de volledige recensie lezen? Klik hier:
http://www.fantasywereld.nl/recensies...

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another page turner, obviously, when is Feist ever not?

Spoiler alert (so don't read on if you haven't read the book yet) : I have to comment on the demon thing... at first I was like "what is going on with Child?", and then later I was still like "what is going on?" I mean I knew it was going to be an important part of the story but come on! This is Feist and I want content with Pug and The Conclave and Thomas! Meanwhile, I did enjoy meeting the new characters from Crydee, gotta love going back to the roots.

By about the middle of the book I was over it and became interested in Child. I had been short on patience but I should have known! This is what I love about Feist! I know the book is not solely about Child, the demon. There is a lot going on and I am only focusing on the demons because it illustrates that Feist is one of those authors who know what his readers want. When Child and her archivist/buddy/companion become Miranda and Nakar..... what can I say! I wasn't in tears (although I expect the scene in the next book when they reunite with Pug will) but I did feel a smugness (Thank you Feist!) and a warming of the heart. (because Nakar is back and it wasn't the same without him)

So why a 4 star and not a 5 star review? Simple. I want more. Feist has been and will probably always be one of my most favorite authors but I read this book in about 6 hours. I hate to complain but a 30 dollar book? 6 hours? You might say "Slow down then" I would say right back that Feist's books have been less pages in each one and bigger print in each one. Now I might be exaggerating out of frustration but it sure does seem like less and less. I am not a slow reader, and no I don't skim at all, and yes I read a lot of books, and no Feist will not get 5 starts from me until he steps up and presents me with a book (and I hate to say it because I love his work so much) that is something other than an airport read.

That being said I will surely buy the next 30 dollar book, and the next, and the next. I grew up on Feist and will always be a huge fan. Keep then coming, I love you Feist!

[Tincangoat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feist still writes as if he's rehashing the same old story just to make money; which is sad considering how great the Talon books were. Feist knows how to write, and several of his books have shown that he writes well. Unfortunately, this one gets close, but doesn't quite make it until you're nearly done with the book. That's when a couple of events happen that will make you stop and think, "What the frick?"

My thoughts:

1. Quite honestly I'm tired of reading about Pug. Pug was fun to read when he was fresh and new in Magician's Apprentice, but now that he's omnipotent and knows it, he's just boring. Nakor, on the other hand, was a fun read because of his unpredictability. (wink, wink)

2. In order to read this book and get the "WTF?" mentioned above, you need to have read several of Feist's earlier books in order to understand the reasons behind the "WTF?" I can't say more without spoilers, but lets just say you need to read at least all the books containing Nakor and Miranda. (This new reader knows what I mean: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...)

3. Sandreena is an awesome character. I love reading her and I really want to read more about the early years between her and Amirantha.

4. My other favorite new character (sorry have forgotten his name and not near my book) is the Aussie-like archer introduced here...and again sorry, I can't say any more...spoilers. Other than, good lord, Feist, I like that guy and wanted to read more!

Other than that, I did like how the last chapter ended, and I see where it is going, but seriously, if you haven't read all Feist's books up till now, you won't get it.

[Alexander Draganov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent epic fantasy by Raymond E. Feist. As he begins the final trilogy in the long-running Riftwar series we see again old friends and villains and meet new heroes. After centuries of peace, the Empire of the Great Kesh attacks the great Kingdom and Crydee, the city from which the great Magician Pug and the mighty Dragon Lord Tomas are from is again under siege. And a young conDoin, a distant ancestor of the legendary Prince Arutha, must protect his people. In the same time, spy nets are falling apart as mysterious new player is destroying them, while in the realms of Demons a new terrible enemy appears...
This is an ambitious fantasy tale, with many characters and sub-plots, but it truly seems the beginning of the end in the grand Riftwar Cycle. While ancient forces of Good and Evil return in Midkemia, a final battle with the most horrible power in the history of the Universe is coming coon...
I can't wait for the next installments in the trilogy, but I know that whatever happens, I will be sad to see the final ending of one of the beloved series of my childhood. In fact, the ending of this book made it so marvellous to me, as it made me remember days long gone, when I was a student and was running from school to read what was and still is one of my favorite fantasy tales.

[Kybernetes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking for a something new to read and picked this from library - never read Feist before. Started pretty good although the places and characters were overwhelming - was searching online for a world map quite soon. Could have started from the beginning but I have started couple of massive fantasy trilogies just to quit after a few books. Thought starting close to the finish line to be a change and might read the older ones later. Luckily there was enough of recollections to get decent background on events and characters. I liked how the events kept pace and there were no boring sidequests emerging and unnecessarily obscuring the general story. Something that did not sit well with me when reading other fantasy trilogies.

But there was something bothering me with the worldview and inconsistencies in characters. They seem all to be made of steel and bounce back from hardships with minimal psychological strain or lingering effects. The world is very male-dominant. Makes it hard to relate. One instance really drew this home for me and that was Sandreena making quick peace with Black Caps although very dark history (rape, mutilation), and again after just been beaten up by them. And with minimal psychological strain or reference to earlier trauma. I could also say that I felt the understanding of female perspective was inadequate.

[Christiaan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A much anticipated (by me anyway) return to the world of Midkemia disappointed as a fairly frustrating read.

With 30+ books worth of history behind the Riftwar Cycle now I guess it was inevitable that some time had to be spent on exposition and reminding the reader of some of the history - but it just came across as if 80% of this book was just that. It felt like large swathes of history and rehashing past events interspersed with short little bits of new story throughout most of the book.

Having said that, I'm now just about done with the next book (A Crown Imperiled) and that is much better - very little history and back to the epic storytelling we came here for in the first place.

So it's worth persevering with The Chaoswar Saga if you (like me) have been out of the universe for a while and need reminding of everything that went before, but read it quickly and move on to better things.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

I rarely give it out 1 star reviews. Usually a book has something I can appreciate, but this book made me so angry it's going in my pile of worst shit books ever. This pile, off the top of my head, consists of this one, Jimmy the Hand, and Murder in LaMut, all Feist books, while Magician ranks as one of my all time favourites. Yes, Feist has managed to bookend my life's reading experiences, and I don't even read all that much fantasy, comparatively. I'm just trying to finish this series which I started in wonder when I was 11 and the storm had broken and Pug danced across the rocks.

So, my reasons (and there will be some spoilers).

Firstly, there's the same reason as the previous umpteen or so books in the series - the magic is too big now. It's gods and demons and the destruction of worlds at stake. 

Second, the romance is mostly non-existent, and the female characters are props for the men. 

Third, Feist's anthropology is lazy, which isn't unique to this book, but in AKB it just stands out more. Need a desert? Call it Jal-Pur and fill it with arabs with names like "Kaseem abu Hazara-Khan" who talk and act like arabs. This isn't worldbuilding, it's lazy transpositioning of existing earth societies into a fantasy universe. Tolkien didn't do this, he invented societies. I don't even like LOTR that much, but I can respect some of Tolkien's craft for its maturity. 

Fourth, Nakor and Miranda? The main character demons suddenly appear as Nakor and Miranda with no explanation? I was listening to the audiobook at 1.5x at this stage, so did I miss some crucial backstory that made this make sense?? 

Fifth, speaking of demons, I just can't really get into the whole demons as main characters plot line. Sure, use them to support the main story, but they're demons for Banapis' sake. 

And fifth, what completely killed it for me, was that every line of present tense action was interrupted by multiple lines of explanation and background information. It's like Feist has a world building addiction, and not in a good Tolkieny way. It felt so pointless and tacky. He constantly stops the plot to explain what HAD happened and who was connected to whom and why things had gotten to that point. 

'Had' is English's word for background information. You switch from simple past tense to pluperfect when giving background or 'offline' information. It's a form of 'telling' when 'showing' isn't possible. Authors: use it sparingly and with care for the gods' sakes! 

"The storm had broken" - background, we're not going through it or experiencing it with the characters. 

"Pug danced across the rocks" - action! This is the story unfolding. We can see it happening in our minds. 

A Kingdom Besieged was like a book of all offline background information. I did the numbers. AKB has 376 pages, and 785 uses of 'had'. That's 2.1 hads per page, or 1 had for every 132 words. For comparison, Magician has 728 pages, and 1048 uses of 'had'. That's 1.4 hads per page, or 1 per every 201 words. 

It got to the point where I would viscerally cringe whenever Feist would switch to offline narration. Pick any page and look for some action. You'll see how it devolves into background information that goes on and on. When you finally get to a part when SOMETHING HAPPENS, it goes offline again. It's lazy and boring and unnecessary and insulting. It's like salt in food - a little bit adds flavour, but if you keep dumping it in, it's unconsumable.

Here are some example from AKB, with online information in standard text and offline in bold:

Page 26

Henry nodded and said nothing. The death of Montgomery’s elder brother Alexander had always been something viewed with suspicion. No one gave voice to the thought, but his death in a raid by Ceresian pirates had seemed both pointless and convenient. The pirates had raided an estate that was heavily fortified yet contained little of worth. Some trinkets had been looted, but the only notable thing had been the death of the King’s nephew, who was at that time the leading contender for the title of heir to the throne. Fortunately, Oliver had been born soon after and the question of inheritance seemed to subside.

Page 64

Both men fell silent. An entire world, Kelewan, had been destroyed in a barely repulsed attack by powerful forces from another plane of reality. And for more than ten years all members of the Conclave, active or not, had been asked to keep their ears open for any news of demon activity.

Page 141

“Send word, I want everyone back here as soon as possible for a meeting of the Conclave.”

"Everyone?” Since the attack on the island during which his wife, Miranda, had died, Pug had never requested more than two or three members of the Conclave be present at any one time. The mad magician Leso Varen had somehow managed to circumvent the island’s many magical defenses, and Pug had become almost obsessed with never allowing his most important lieutenants to gather and become a single target again.

___


And on and on the book goes. A line of online information, followed by a paragraph of the author telling us what HAD happened in the past. If I were giving a writers' workshop I would use this book as an example of what not to do. 

I'm only reading these last few books in the series so as to finish the series, otherwise there's no way I'd waste my time on these. I'm baffled how anyone could have enjoyed AKB. Nothing happens in the book! There's barely a fight at Crydee. Pug sees a fleet. Hal fights in a sword competition. James goes on a research trip and comes back. Some demons eat demons and grow. And everywhere we turn Feist is telling us things that HAD happened while we ho hum and wait for something to actually happen!* Ughghghhhhghhhhh.....



*split infinitive used intentionally because I like them